


Love Like This

by Altun_Heiral



Series: Patchwork Hearts [7]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/F, reina doesn't know how to handle altun being sick, the girl is never sick so reina's brain just shuts down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29751087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Altun_Heiral/pseuds/Altun_Heiral
Summary: Reina tries to care for Altun as best she can when she falls ill.
Relationships: Warrior of Light/Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Series: Patchwork Hearts [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1838713
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	Love Like This

**Author's Note:**

> Reina is a hot mess cause Altun is literally never sick. She doesn't know what to do and her brain basically just stops working. Least Altun had good reason for the reason she got sick. Well, somewhat.

Altun had been running a fever for the better part of the day and Reina was panicking. Altun was never sick. In fact, she was positive she’d never been sick for the entire time they’d been together. She assumed it to be a stress sickness, as Altun had been really strung out lately, barely sleeping due to work she needed to get done. Altun had many home made herbal remedies in her drawers along with some small bottles of pills. One being normal pain killers, which Reina recalled she used rarely, only when in great deals of physical pain. Then she had some fever reducers. Altun had pointed her to the fever reducers earlier in the morning, to which Reina had given her some. She’d fallen asleep curled up wearing some of Reina’s clothing, with the owl tucked in her arms soon after.

She was lost. She had no clue what to do. Altun always took care of her if she came down with a cold or something of sorts. She’d make a soup from back on the steppe, a comfort food that her mother made for her, and then she’d have Reina eat as much as she able of it throughout the day. Reina had no idea how to make that soup. She had no idea how to make anything that Altun would make for her when she was normally sick. Altun was always prepared when Reina was ill. Reina wans’t ready for the day to come when Altun was the one who wasn’t feeling well.

Altun had one eye cracked open as she watched Reina pace around the living room from her place on the couch. It was obvious that Reina had no idea what to do beyond Altun having told her which pills were the fever reducers. She tried to search her mind to remember if she made any tea the day before. Her brain nor memory didn’t wish to work, and so she stared more at Reina who had now move into the kitchen, clearly rummaging to find something to make for Altun to eat. She tried too hard sometimes to try to be as prepared for injury and illness like Altun was. Really Altun just always had stocks of everything since she made salves and such in bulk for emergencies.

Reina was going through the packages of food they had. She wasn’t an awful cook by any means, but she also wasn’t Altun. She could cook anything. Hell, Reina figured Altun could season a branch from a tree and cook it on an open flame and it would somehow look appetizing. She needed to find something Altun could eat, well something she could stomach. Reina was observant enough to be able to tell Altun’s stomach was bothering her, despite her telling Reina she only had a fever. She thought to make a nice soup, something light, surely not the comfort food she was used to. But it would be easy on Altun’s stomach at the very least. She was sure they had salt leeks and green leeks around the apartment. So she set to work.

Finding she couldn’t go back to sleep, Altun carefully sat up, groaning quietly as her stomach made a displeased growl. Her stomach wasn’t in massive pain, but there were twinges here and there. Half of it being from general hunger and the other half by whatever acid she was managing to keep from going beyond her throat. Perhaps she had over worked herself this time trying to finish Reina’s nameday gift. It was only a few days away, and all she told Reina was she had work, while trying to keep it hidden from her for as long as she possibly could manage. The long nights of stress working on the gift though clearly had caught up to her. She could feel the muscles in her stomach cramp slightly. She wanted to get up and walk to the kitchen to see if there was tea. However, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to get up. Her body felt sort and stiff. She put one of her hands to her forehead. It wasn’t as warm, but she clearly still had a fever. She figured she would know better than to push her body this hard, yet here she was. At the end of it all, she had gotten Reina’s gift done on time. And she would be able to give it her.

Reina had settled on the salt leeks as they didn’t have as strong a flavour as the green ones. She was trying to help Altun feel better, not upset her body further. She only occasionally cooked meals for the two of them, though it was less out of not wanting to and more that Altun really adored cooking for them. Altun had a small beat up looking book of sorts that had scribbled notes and dog eared pages, and even little notes sticking out between pages. It was the book she kept all her recipes in for her traditional foods. It had seen better days, even better years. And though some foods had changed or been substituted unless she felt like taking an Aetheryte over to Othard to get what she needed, she basically kept every version of the foods she made in that book. Reina had nothing like that, what she cooked was from memory, which truly there was nothing wrong with that. Though she also did cook so rarely that she now, of course, was panicking over making a simple leek soup for Altun.

It was quite some time before she finished, she dished the soup up into a bowl and set it on a little tray they had lying around the kitchen. She thought for a moment. It was easy enough to heat up some water, but she couldn’t remember which damned cupboard in this kitchen of theirs Altun kept all her tea leaves. She searched around for some time, cup in hand. She had set water boiling so that by the time she located the tea leaves, least the water would be ready. Reina must have gone through every cupboard before locating the tea. Even though everything was organized, Reina couldn’t navigate a damn one of these cupboards. Carefully, she brewed up some of the ginger and lemon tea, placing the cup on the tray next to the soup. When she walked out to where Altun was on the couch, she didn’t expect to see Altun sitting there with a smile on her face, clearly awake.

Altun had managed to quietly move herself to the other end of the couch for a few moments to get a small wrapped box before moving carefully back to her spot, setting the box next to her. Reina was staring at her with almost an shy smile before she walked over to where Altun was sitting. Altun moved her legs so she was sitting cross legged, allowing Reina to set the tray in her lap. Despite the tired sickness written across, Altun looked glad to see Reina again after having fallen asleep when she took her medicine. Altun hummed happily at the food as Reina sat down next to her.

“Hey you.” Altun said, sounding still someone sleepy and dazed out. Reina glanced over at her just as Altun placed a small kiss to the tip of her nose. “Thank you.” Reina smiled at Altun, who pulled back and began carefully eating the soup Reina had made, though it was still quite hot. “Oh. This is for you.” Altun said between a sip of her tea. Reina raised and eyebrow, taking the small wrapped box from Altun’s hand. She was sick and she had something for Reina. Astounding this woman was really. Altun gave a slight nod of her head at the box, before returning to happily eating her soup. Reina turned the boxed over in her hands a few times. Naturally, it was wrapped in that very special ‘Altun’ way of wrapping things. Namely, very poorly, but also endearingly so. She quietly unwrapped it while Altun made to finishing her soup. She popped the lid off the box, opening it up to a necklace inside. It wasn’t extravagant. It was really quite elegant, simple with light pink stones. It was in the shape of a lily.

“When even did you-”

“You see, I may have pushed myself too hard to get that done in time. Happy Nameday, Reina.” Altun had finished her soup now, setting the tray down on the floor, holding the cup of tea in her hands with a small smile.

“You went and stressed yourself and made yourself sick to finish this.” Reina wanted to scold her, and gods did she try. But then she glanced back down at the necklace and she couldn’t help but smile. It was clear how much work Altun had put into it. “You’re so silly sometimes.” she laughed a little as Altun carefully moved so she was leaned up against Reina. “I had forgotten my nameday was even coming up…” Reina admitted. Clearly, Altun hadn’t forgotten that it was soon. She truly couldn’t believe she went and made herself sick to finish it in time.

“I’ll try not to over do it next time.” She took a sip of her tea, a sheepish yet sleepy grin on her face. Reina laughed a little, wrapping her arm around Altun. She carefully slipped the necklace on, letting it fall to the center of her chest. She didn’t understand sometimes how Altun managed to make things such as this from scratch, but she somehow did.

Altun was still running a fever later into the night when Reina gave her more medication. She could tell Altun was still tired, curled up in bed now this time. Reina had made her some more tea, setting the cup next to her on the bedside table. Altun admitted her stomach was still somewhat upset, but that the soup helped. Reina figured she could make some more tomorrow since it seemed Altun would probably be feeling under the weather for a few more days at the very least. She could tell Altun was pleased at her sitting and holding the lily necklace in her hand as she wore it knowing Reina played with jewelry she liked.

Reina stayed up till she was sure Altun had finally fallen back asleep. It didn’t take long for her medications to kick in, but she didn’t want to try to get some rest of her own till she was sure Altun had been able to manage the same. She curled up in bed, laying down next to Altun. She pressed her forehead to the back of Altun’s shoulder, wrapping her arms around her waist. Altun always took care of her, and everyone else for that matter. Somehow, even though the reason Altun had fallen sick was because of her wanting to finish her necklace in time, Reina couldn’t help but feel somewhat happy that she finally could return the favour to Altun. That favour being taking care of Altun for once. It felt nice to be able to care for Altun the same way she had always cared for Reina. It was also a reminder that Altun wasn’t invincible like she acted sometimes, she was just as vulnerable as the Reina was. A reminder that they could and would have moments of weakness and illness, but also that they both had each other. So even in that weakness, they weren’t going to have to be alone again like before.


End file.
